Nice hike up the hills from just above the metal gate that closes in the afternoon. Left at around 10, reached the summit in heavy fog and rain by 1:45. Had a quick lunch and went down slowly, getting back to the gate at around 5:30. Amazing mountain, looking forward to climbing again!

Acclimatization hike from Quito in prep for Illinizas and Antisana. Tough road for 4X4 vehicle. Some bushwhacking before the ridge, then a very fun scramble up the ridge. Low clouds prevented much of a view.

Chris and I hired a driver in Quito. The hike was a lot longer than expected (4000+ feet of elevation gain) because the driver didn't know how to get up the dirt road. Also, the clouds obscured the view as soon as we got close to the mountain. It was probably a bad idea to do this the day before going to Cotopaxi...our legs were a little taxed.

Corazon was the second of four peaks on this trip to Ecuador. Climbed with my daughter and Guide Segundo. After a nice trek up Pasochoa, on a beautiful day, things picked up on Corazon, First, the scrambling became more intense (for us anyway). There where at least two locations where being roped together and with helmets and an experienced guide eased any concerns I had of an accidental mis-step. Also, weather conditions deteriorated near the summit with a smoky cloud layer engulfing us. With visibility reduced, a number of false summits presented themselves. Soon some nice size snow flakes fell then pea size hail. We enjoyed the variety of weather conditions and scrambling. Oh, also saw an Andean fox, Dusycium culpaeus.

I went with a guided group of about 40 people. All but 4 people made it to the top. Our guide Jaime was very good. We started low, at around 10,500 feet (3200m) around 8:15. The first hour or so was clear but after that, the rest of the hike was in the clouds. It never got below freezing though. The visiblity was about 100 feet(30m) or less. We got to the top at around 13:15 and stayed for about a half hour. The scramling section was slow because of the amount of people. We got back to the bus around 17:30. It was a great hike, and I'd love to do it again when it is clear.

We stayed at the Hosteria La Estacion...which is a great place, but as mentioned, it is very very expensive. We got a late start around 7:30 or 8 a.m. and took our time, thinking we weren´t actually going to summit. So we enjoyed the way up and the views, then got energized hiking up the switchbacks to the top of the hills...then we saw Corazon in the distance and I think our stomachs dropped a little. But we kept going with some nice views of the mountain as clouds rolled in and out and thunder rolled all around us far on other mountains. By the time we reached the summit, however, clouds rolled in for good. We picked our way up slowly and around and made it to the rocky ridge which we followed for ages in worse and worse freezing rain, visibility was about 15 feet. Plenty of fake out summits...but finally we got to the top and turned back right away. It started getting dark on us about halfway back and we arrived back at the hostal at night to end the ridiculouly long day with hot chocolate.

We drove for almost an hour up from the Aloasi Train Station, hiked for 4 hours in total and made it to 4,725m, about 60m shy of the summit. We decided to turn back in large part because of the wind. It was very windy, precipitation was freezing on my sweater and visibility was low, but still an enjoyable trip in early September. Beautiful green vegetation.

A camionetta dropped us off north of the trail so we struggled up through the heavy pacha grass to the saddle, by then my daughter and I were so hammered we just rested while my son dbakwin raced up to the top (we had a ride to catch). Nice day but if you get dropped off below a little resevoin, go south a 1/4 mile to a good trail/road....

We had a late start, having taken the train from Quito to Alosi. Started from the station at 10:30 am, making it to the gate quickly. Followed clear road and trail-way to the saddle at about 3:45 pm, and after passing the first two false summits we were forced back at 4:20 by the storm, only about 20 minutes from the summit. Trek back in the rain to a great meal at the Hacienda de la Estacion (way pricey, be warned).

In my original plan, today was a rest day, but due to an unusual amount of rain - meaning snow higher up the mountains - the plan had to be changed and so last week was a lot easier than planned. Therefore, instead of resting, I hiked up Corazón from the NE with Pablo, from Machachi. On a pretty awful road, he still managed to drive his camioneta to about 4250 m, so we didn´t have to hike all that far. Occasionally, we needed our hands, but no real climbing was involved. After just over an hour and a half, we reached what appeared to be the summit - there was a cairn, not real big, but bigger than all the ones before.

As we sat down, I looked south along the ridge, and thought that I saw a slightly higher point. We walked along the ridge a few minutes more, crossing two more potential highest summits, before we reached a larger cairn on the next one. After that, the trail descended. My altimeter was not accurate enough to tell which of the four potential summits was the highest, but I think it was the third one, counting from the north.